Dr. Kathryn Atherton

Another impressive alum sharing their research on our urban environment! Check out @k8eatherton.bsky.social's paper in Nature Cities (www.nature.com/articles/s44...), "Behind the Paper" blog post (communities.springernature.com/posts/the-dy...) , or coverage at WBUR (www.wbur.org/news/2025/10...).

The dysregulated microbiome of city trees Cities are investing in planting trees, but we don’t fully understand how city living affects trees and the other organisms it houses. We found that urban oak trees lose their microbial symbionts whil...

You can also take a look at my "Behind the Paper" blog for Nature to learn more about how we went from soil to this microbial story!
go.nature.com/4nJcP0j

City living isn't good for a tree's microbiome, study shows. Here's what that means A new study from Boston University researchers found that the city's oak trees have more pathogens and plant decomposers. With fewer "good" microbes, experts worry about how that might impact ecosyste...

Thanks to @vivianla.bsky.social for covering this paper in @wbur.org! Check out her article here:
www.wbur.org/news/2025/10...

Huge thanks to my brilliant coauthors, mentors, and collaborators (including @chikaetatsumi.bsky.social) at Boston University, our funders, including
@buurban.bsky.social, @buoncities.bsky.social, and to the oak trees that made it possible. 🌳💚
Reach out if you want me to send along the pdf!

Caring for city trees means caring for their microbiomes. 🌿
Healthy soils, cleaner air, and diverse plantings can help “rewild” city microbiomes, making urban forests more resilient for all of us. 💚

These changes were tied to urban stressors: heat 🌡️, drought 💧, and air pollution 🚗.
Even more surprising: city tree microbiomes had a higher potential to produce greenhouse gases and less ability to remove methane. 🌍

🍂 City trees lose many of their beneficial fungal partners that help them absorb water + nutrients.
🦠 Instead, they gain pathogens and decomposers, including microbes linked to plant, animal, and human health.

City living isn't good for a tree's microbiome, study shows. Here's what that means A new study from Boston University researchers found that the city's oak trees have more pathogens and plant decomposers. With fewer "good" microbes, experts worry about how that might impact ecosyste...

These microbes help trees grow, fight disease, and even influence ecosystem health. But… city life changes everything. 🌡️

We studied oak trees from downtown Boston to rural Massachusetts forests, and saw dramatic shifts in their microbiomes.

Disruption of the oak tree microbiome with urbanization - Nature Cities Urbanization disrupts oak tree microbiomes by reducing beneficial fungi and increasing plant and human pathogens across leaves, roots and soils, with consequences for tree health, urban climate mitiga...

🌳 Big news! My paper “Disruption of the oak tree microbiome with urbanization” is now out in Nature Cities! 🏙️🌿
Cities are full of life we don’t see, including microbes that live in and on trees.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s442...

Ever since I started my graduate school career, I've known I want to work in science policy for the federal government, but right now that possibility is looking less and less likely each day. Thanks so much to @vivianla.bsky.social for doing such a wonderful job telling this story!